< previous page page_50 next page >

Page 50
enough to gain such permission when a man does not know from whom he will obtain the best offer."
"The king was not suspicious?"
"He was so delighted by the success of the siege and his attack on Montmarillon and Clisson, he had no room in his heart for anything else. Besides, I had a strong advocate. I had a piece of really good fortune at Montauban. I did not wish to tell the children, because I would not have it spoken about, and they are heedless. I was so fortunate as to save William of Salisbury's life."
More concern than delight was apparent on Alinor's face. "Is that fortunate?" she asked. "I never thought it a comfortable thing when one of the Angevin blood owed a debt."
"Not Salisbury. I suppose his nature must come from his mother. I cannot deny that I was not easy at first, and I sought to avoid him. He came to me." Ian's lips twitched with remembered amusement. "He said, 'Thank you.' I said, 'It was nothing.' Then he began to laugh and said his life might be nothing to me but it was rather valuable to him. I replied that that was how it should be. From that we came to talk, and later we were close battle companions for some months. He is a good man."
"Perhaps," Alinor agreed, but doubtfully.
She was not willing to condemn out of hand a man to whom she had never spoken more than indifferent courtesy. On the other side, she did not trust Ian's judgment of men the way she had trusted Simon's. Simon might have dreamed of the long future, but his near vision was keen, and he was not given to enthusiasms. Ian was more warm-hearted than Simon, more easily moved to sympathy, and, of course, he had not Simon's years of experience. That, naturally, would make him less tolerant of doubts of his judgment.
"I fear, however," she added hesitantly, "that the old saw is true, and birds of a feather flock together."

 
< previous page page_50 next page >